Benisuzume
Not to be confused with the merged reincarnation of merged Hoshijiro and Tsumugi from the manga, Benisuzume Hoshijiro. '''Benisuzume' (紅天蛾), also known as Gauna 490 or Crimson Hawk Moth, is a highly intelligent Gauna that took on a Garde's appearance after absorbing Shizuka Hoshijiro. While initially there were 3 Guardian-shaped Gaunas, Gauna 491 was captured by Nagate Tanikaze, Gauna 489 was destroyed, while the last one, dubbed Benisuzume, continued to attack Sidonia and its Knights numerous times before eventually being defeated by Nagate. Appearance Overall Benisuzume appears to take on the form of a Garde's shape, particularly Hoshijiro's Garde, even replicating its number '702' on its right shoulder. Though, like a Gauna, it has teeth and most of it appears more organic than anything. During its final sortie against Nagate and Tsumugi, it assumed the form of an eerie, skeletal, biomechanical replica of Hoshijiro. Surprisingly, Benisuzume replicated its 'pilot', which takes the form of Hoshijiro, and even its cockpit. Benisuzume's placenta, also known as Beni Hoshijiro (紅星白 lit. 'Red Hoshijiro'), appears almost identical to Hoshijiro herself and is able to speak using Hoshijiro's voice, however her 'skin suit' which is made of placenta covers her body like skin, and is almost impossible to tear off. However she can remove her helmet made of Placenta as well if she wants to. Her eyes appear red with six dots in the middle. When near death, Beni Hoshijiro somehow 'recalls' Hoshijiro's emotions and memories for a moment, and her eyes turn black like Hoshijiro's herself, before turning back to red once more. Biologically, the pilot herself seems to have replicated Hoshijiro's entire human composition, from bones to organs. From a scientific standpoint, she is, technically, 'human'. Personality As a gauna, it doesn't possess much of a personality to start with, seemingly only interested in destroying Sidonia in general, and its Knights in particular. Despite this, Benisuzume can appear to be cruel and calculating, even mockingly stating "one/enemy unit down" over comms when it defeats a Garde, often while giggling manically. It appears to copy any words spoken to it, seemingly understands their meaning, and also seems to be capable of using the words in their proper context, possibly signifying some form of intelligence above what the gauna have demonstrated so far, or at least, a more "human" intelligence. Even though this gauna is capable of communication, it uses these capabilities not to negotiate with any Sidonian, as Nagate first hoped, but as a weapon of psychological warfare to demoralize, confuse, and manipulate its enemies...something the gauna are very proficient at in general. Story Benisuzume first appeared alongside fellow Garde-type Gauna GA-489 and GA-491, but proved to be far more skilled, maneuverable, and intelligent than its "sisters". Its role in the manga and the anime differs slightly: In the manga, it retreated into the Small Mass Union Ship when confronted by Tanikaze, but later reappeared alongside 47 other Garde-type Gauna sortied to fight 48 Gardes. It briefly stopped its offensive when Tanikaze called out to it, before directly attacking the Sidonia. It badly damaged Izana's Garde, resulting in the loss of her right arm and leg, and made it as far as Sidonia's raw material mines before its Garde body was destroyed by a point-blank Heigus Particle beam from Tanikaze's Garde. It next appeared on the Ocarina, and later emerged from the asteroid the Gauna were attempting to ram into the Sidonia. Tanikaze attempted to hit her with a Kabi bullet, but missed its True Body, leaving him with no means of destroying it and enabling it to retreat and regenerate. Benisuzume was next seen emerging from the Large Mass Union Ship and undergoing a metamorphosis, shedding its Garde-type form to become a winged, skeletal version of Hoshijiro. In this form, it attacked Nagate on Lem-IX and was nearly defeated by Tsumugi, but managed to catch the chimera by surprise and drain her Heigus Particle reserves, regenerating into a more complete and powerful form. Before it could kill Tsumugi, it was engaged by Tanikaze, inserting its placenta pilot into his cockpit in order to kill him. With Izana's assistance, Tanikaze was able to pierce Benisuzume's True Body and its placenta pilot was secured and taken into custody, though interestingly, it was not turned over to the OSL or Ochiai. In the anime, Benisuzume appears alongside GA-489 and GA-491, where it completely wipes out the squadron sortied against it with impunity, before proceeding to shatter Hou Honoka's Garde when she and Ren engage it, killing her. When Ren attacks it in rage and desperation, it effortlessly dances around her attacks before slamming into her Garde. A split second before Ren shares her sister's fate at Benisuzume's claws, Tanikaze intervenes and fires on her. Rather than engage him in combat, however, it turns and accelerates away from the combat zone. It later appears as part of the Small Mass Union Ship's attempt to ram an asteroid into the Sidonia, where it badly damages Izana's Garde before being stricken by a Kabi bullet and seemingly destroyed for good. The anime does not show its core escaping or its metamorphosis, and it next appears on LEM-IX, attacking Tsumugi and Tanikaze before being slain, with its placenta pilot being captured. After she sacrificed herself to save Nagate, Tsumugi's consciousness was implanted into a blood nemetode, which was inserted into Benisuzume's placenta pilot. Tsumugi's mind was fully integrated into the body, though faint remnants of Hoshijiro's memories remain. Abilities As a gauna, it is capable of using its tendrils to attack its opponents, along with a Heigus Particle Cannon and ena spikes, which it can fire like rockets. Unlike its typical brethren, it is much faster and much more agile, easily matching Gardes in dogfights, and besting them by utilizing their own tactics against them, demonstrating an ability to use adaptive tactics like a human rather than the more straightforward approach taken by other gauna. This could be due to it absorbing Hoshijiro, although other gauna that consumed pilots did not demonstrate such a keen level of tactical insight, and 489, not 490, had been the one to absorb her. She is also capable of making dummies of herself through her placenta, further confusing the Gardes. She can even change her form to be almost completely identical to a Garde, demonstrated in one instance by mimicking Izana's damaged Garde to gain entry to Sidonia, though this was realized just in time before she could get inside Sidonia proper. Trivia *Her name means "elephant hawk moth" (Deilephila elpenor) *In the Manga, she appears quite often. In the Anime, she just appears around 3 times. Image Gallery Benisuzume swimsuit.png|Swimsuit Benisuzume001.jpg knights of sidorna clip .png|Benisuzume's ena kissing Nagate. Links Category:Characters Category:Gauna